22h • General discussion
Giving away the game
Today I flubbed a point that didn’t look all that difficult. But… it was the game winner, in the finals, against a team we were not favored to beat. My partner and I had started a great end, and the opponents unexpectedly missed a couple, and suddenly we were holding 4 with only me to play. Wow! Make this throw and go home undefeated!
In my excitement I managed to knock the opponent’s ball up, giving them 1 point on that end, and they eventually beat us.
As I play more tournaments and my skills improve, I find myself in higher stakes situations more often. Semis and finals against quality competition are less uncommon. Sometimes now I’m in the shooting role or milieu, meaning that something might already be wrong when I step up to play. And when I mess up in those roles, the consequences can seem much worse because you do something that is actively terrible… instead of maybe going a bit short and failing to get the point, now I’m the guy who gives away the game by shooting the wrong ball or pushing the jack to the opponents.
I didn’t completely fall apart after today’s f***-up, we did win the next two ends before they put us away. My partner was extremely gracious about it. And thanks to the rest of the team, we won the overall on points differential. But it’s not the first time I’ve failed on an important ball… and it seems hard to train under those mental conditions. I could certainly use your tips and tricks on performing as well on the game-winner as I would in a practice session.
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Giving away the game
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